Facebook more crucial than having a toilet--survey
A survey by London's Science Museum discovers that having access to Facebook ranks just below having running water in people's list of life priorities.
If you had to start life all over again today, what would be the things you'd need the most?
A roof over your brains, surely. A bed, perhaps. Running water, too. How about a toilet that worked?
I ask this perhaps unnecessary question because of a survey conducted by London's Science Museum. Scientists always care about people, so they asked 3,000 of them what things in this fair world they couldn't live without.
Because people are insane optimists, the one thing that these respondents claimed they couldn't live without was sunshine.
Because people are merely insane, the fifth thing these respondents claimed they couldn't live without was Facebook.
You'll be wondering, through your self-aware haze, what other things were more important than Facebook.
Well, second came Internet connection, closely followed by clean drinking water. (Yes, I have that the right way 'round.) Fourth was a fridge. Yes, you might wonder where, say, shoes came. Twentieth. You might also consider how highly people ranked fresh vegetables. Sixteenth.
There will be downcast and angry expressions at Google today to learn that Facebook is 17 places more important to the British people than Google's own fine and searching service.
But it's ninth place that is, perhaps, most worthy of note. In that rather sad position sat a flushing toilet. This most certainly conjures a troubling view of humanity's future, as everyone socially networks amid a deadly stench.
The Daily Mail has the full summary of this highly expressive piece of work.
I don't want to depress you about the British people's psyche too much. I want to find hope in this apparent madness. I have found it. In fiftieth place, there's something to whose importance everyone can relate: Twitter.